Konosuke questions

I'm currently looking at the konosuke fujiyama blue2 nakiri... Curious if its thinner then the mystery laser I was playing with today.

I was at a local knife shop and they were trying to sell me a few kawamura's.

The nakiri is white2, and the funayuki is something like swedish. Anyways, when i asked if they were konosukes he said definately not! He said they are special made to spec for his store- one of a kind. He refuse to disclose any more info about the smith.. Both blades are complete lasers- way thinner then anything ive ever seen before. Any thoughts? THanks

Re: Konosuke questions

Re: Konosuke questions

Wed Aug 28, 2013 3:35 pm

This is a question I've answered many times in my career.

In the old days "forged" was a sign of quality and "stamped" was a sign of cheap crap since several decades ago there were very few good stainless steels and even when they were using descent steel they were heat treating poorly. The big German companies tried to differentiate themselves by telling everyone that their knives were better and cost more because they were forged and that was why they cost more. This distinction has evaporated since most of the best steels in the world are now made out of thin rolled steel that is not really stamped out anymore but rather cut by lasers or water jets or plasma cutters. Knife makers then heat treat the knives and shape the blades from blanks made in this manner and there is no quality difference.

Now many small blacksmiths in Japan and maybe a couple in the USA (I can only think of Murray Carter) are still using bar stock and forging their knives by heating the steel and hammering them out on a pneumatic hammer. They tend to use carbon steels but some use good stainless steels as well. The Fujiyama blacksmith does knives in this manner. The blacksmith that does the HH and HD and white #2 are using the former method.

There are ways to differentiate between good and bad knives but this is no longer a way to do it.

Re: Konosuke questions

Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:30 pm

Every time the Konosuke Ginsan knives come up in a thread I go look at the pictures and think, "Wow, they're pretty!" and "Wow, they're expensive!" And then I come up with something else I'm curious about. This time:

Are the Konosuke Ginsan clad? In what? Ginsanko in Ginsanko? Or is that wavy line I see in the picture purely cosmetic and it's single steel all the way through?

I'm guessing the HD knives are a better bang for the buck based on that semi-stainless steel so many people here go on about, but those Ginsans! They wink at me and say "Over here, big boy!"

Re: Konosuke questions

Wed Aug 28, 2013 11:04 pm

I have read from an experienced user, that has both Fujiyama gyuto's, that while the Blue has a slightly thicker spine(supposedly), it's actually thinner behind the edge than the white series.I know my blue Fujiyama is extremely thin behind the edge..i don't how much thinner you can get.

My knife (just measured)...is only 2.2mm at the spine above the heel. (2.4 at the handle). These figures appear to be thinner than the listed figures for the whites?

Being handmade, I'm sure there is some variance. Additionally, this knife has a spine that seems to stay fairly consistent in terms of thickness almost until the tip of the blade, unlike most knives that have a gradual taper to the tip.